Humanising the Law: Harnessing Science and
Community Voices to End HIV Criminalisation

Speech delivered on the final morning plenary session of the 16th AIDSImpact Conference, Casablanca, 28th May 2025

Good morning.

I am deeply honoured to stand here with you today in Casablanca – a city whose name evokes stories of resistance and solidarity – to share our own story of resistance and solidarity: the global movement to end HIV criminalisation.

It’s especially meaningful to be back at AIDSImpact. Because, you see, this is where it all began for me. Eighteen years ago, in Marseille, I stood on a stage like this one, trembling slightly, as I spoke publicly for the very first time about HIV criminalisation.

I had no idea that moment would change the course of my life – or that it would help spark a movement that continues to grow today.

Later that same year, NAM – where I worked as an HIV treatment journalist – published my first book on the subject aimed at explaining HIV science and social science to the criminal legal system, and I started a blog – Criminal HIV Transmission – as a way of documenting the mounting number of unjust prosecutions and problematic new laws taking place across the world.

What started as a mostly solitary – and primarily UK-focused – effort quickly became a shared and surprisingly international one.

By AIDS 2008 in Mexico City, I began to understand that my blog was becoming a de facto global network, and many of the cases it documented were cited by South African Justice Edwin Cameron when, during his now-legendary plenary, he called for a global movement to end HIV criminalisation.

That same year UNAIDS and UNDP released guidance opposing overly broad criminal laws, and it was clear that something was shifting.

Two years later, at AIDS 2010 in Vienna we – that is NAM, GNP+, and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network – convened the first-ever pre-conference on HIV criminalisation. It brought together scientists, advocates, lawyers, and most importantly, people living with HIV. I had planned to start the HIV Justice Network then, but a consultancy job at UNAIDS, providing scientific and legal support for clear guidance to limit the overly broad use of the criminal law, kept me busy.

So it wasn’t until 2012, when we gathered in Oslo at a UNAIDS consultation on HIV and the criminal law, that the network finally came together. On the sidelines of the consultation, key representatives of civil society worked together to draft the Oslo Declaration on HIV Criminalisation – a ten-point call to action that was endorsed by more than 1700 individuals and organisations from 130 countries and, to my astonishment, also appeared as an appendix to the official UNAIDS guidance note that was published in 2013.

The Oslo Declaration became the founding document of the HIV Justice Network. From that point on, we were no longer reacting – we were organising.

By AIDS 2014 in Melbourne, with the support of several Australian and international HIV organisations, we held the Beyond Blame pre-conference, where our first major victory was announced: the repeal of the Australian state of Victoria’s HIV-specific criminal law. We knew then that change was possible.

In 2015, we joined forces with ARASA, the HIV Legal Network, GNP+, the Sero Project, and Positive Women’s Network–USA to form a powerful global consortium. With support from the Robert Carr Fund, we launched the HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE coalition in 2016, committing ourselves to collective action against the unjust criminalisation of people living with HIV.

Together, we developed a range of advocacy tools and resources, including the Expert Consensus Statement on the Science of HIV in the Context of Criminal Law, launched at AIDS 2018 in Amsterdam. The Consensus Statement translated complex science – about viral load, transmission routes, treatment effectiveness, and HIV forensics – into language that courts and lawmakers could understand.

Because the truth is: the law had not kept pace with science. Outdated laws continued to criminalise people living with HIV as though it were still the ‘90s. And behind each of these prosecutions was a human life: interrupted, humiliated, punished, often for simply living with a virus.

Today we know that people living with HIV on effective treatment cannot transmit the virus. U=U is not just a slogan – it’s a scientific fact. And that message has been useful in limiting unjust prosecutions, primarily in the global North.

But HIV criminalisation is a global phenomenon, and we cannot rely on science alone as an argument against HIV criminalisation, especially in places where access to treatment or viral load testing is limited or is being taken away; nor in this brave new world of integration, where treatment or prevention is only likely to be accessed by people who are not marginalised, stigmatised, or otherwise criminalised.

That’s why our key messaging must always be that making people living with HIV solely responsible – and criminally liable – for HIV prevention is simply wrong: it’s ineffective, counterproductive, and unjust. That’s where storytelling comes in – to shine a spotlight on the human cost. So over the years we made documentaries focusing on the impact of HIV criminalisation on people.

Documentaries like More Harm Than Good – which brought to life all the social science studies that overwhelmingly found mandating disclosure, criminalising non-disclosure, and sending people to prison for potentially exposing or allegedly passing on HIV did the opposite of what lawmakers intended.

And Mwayi’s Story, about a woman in Malawi unjustly prosecuted for briefly comfort-nursing another woman’s baby and the subsequent empowered movement of women living with HIV in Malawi who spoke truth to power and persuaded their Parliament not to pass an HIV-specific criminalisation law.

We wanted to show that these laws and prosecutions do nothing to protect public health – in fact, they undermine in, and they destroy lives in the process. They increase stigma, turning vulnerable people away from prevention, treatment and care services.

And we have never stopped centring the voices of those most harmed.

People like Rosemary Namubiru, a kind, elderly nurse in Uganda, who dedicated her life to caring for others. She was falsely accused of exposing a child to HIV while administering an injection – a claim later shown to be scientifically impossible. Yet she was arrested live on TV, vilified in the press, and imprisoned. Rosemary was a survivor, but she never recovered from what was done to her. When she passed away in 2022, she left behind not only grief and anger, but also a legacy – a reminder of why we do this work. To honour her. To fight for the dignity and rights of people like her. And to ensure that no one else is ever treated the way she was.

And here in Morocco – where people living with HIV and key populations still face stigma, criminalisation, and exclusion – we must also honour the rich legacy of resistance, solidarity, and resilience that continues to inspire advocates demanding justice, dignity, and change.

Throughout this movement, it has always been communities who’ve led the way: survivors who dared to speak their truths; advocates who pushed for reform; scientists who stood up for evidence-based policy; and networks like ours, who bring it all together.

I never imagined, back in 2007, that this would become my life’s work. But here I am, 18 years later, standing before you with immense pride in what we’ve achieved – and profound concern for what we’re up against. Because the truth is: we are facing an existential moment.

Globally, we’ve witnessed the rise of authoritarianism and the anti-rights movement, which along with the funding crisis is leading to a rollback of hard-won human rights, and the erosion of multilateral cooperation.

Some governments are already doubling down on criminalisation – of people and of NGOs – using stigma and fear to justify their repression. And I worry that punitive approaches to HIV prevention will become the new normal, including policing of the bodies and lives of people living with HIV that was considered acceptable in the ‘90s.

And people living with HIV – especially those who are Black, Brown, gay or queer, trans, migrants, sex workers, people who use drugs – will be the first to be caught in the crosshairs.

The HIV justice movement was born out of crisis, but it is sustained by hope. We know change is possible – because we’ve seen it, even under the most difficult conditions. In fact, over the past five years 25 jurisdictions in 11 countries have repealed or revised their HIV criminalisation laws based on a range of reasons – from futility to privacy rights, to recognising up-to-date science, to concerns over the financial, human or public health cost.

We have been making progress. But now we cannot take any of that progress for granted.

This movement belongs to all of us. And together, even with dwindling resources and some formidable enemies, I believe we can still create a world where justice is not just a concept, but a lived reality for every person living with HIV.

Thank you.

Zimbabwe’s victory:
A beacon of hope for HIV justice amid global challenges

In a landmark victory for human rights, Zimbabwe repealed its HIV criminalisation law in 2022, marking a significant step forward in the global fight for HIV justice. This historic reform, detailed in a new case study and documentary by the HIV Justice Network (HJN), was the result of years of dedicated advocacy by Zimbabwean activists, legal experts, and community organisations. Their success serves as both an inspiration and a blueprint for other nations still grappling with punitive HIV laws.

For decades, Zimbabwe’s Section 79 of the Criminal Law Code unfairly targeted people living with HIV criminalising alleged transmission without regard for intent, transmission risk, or scientific evidence. These laws, rooted in stigma rather than science, disproportionately harmed women, but mostly deterred men from seeking testing and treatment. The repeal of Section 79 was a hard-won victory that showcased the power of coalition-building and sustained advocacy.

Yet, as we celebrate Zimbabwe’s progress, we must confront a sobering reality: the global movement for HIV decriminalisation faces an existential crisis due to dwindling funding. Many donors are shifting priorities, putting essential advocacy work at risk. The HIV response itself is in peril, making it even more critical to sustain efforts to challenge unjust laws and protect the rights of people living with HIV.

The HIV Justice Network has been at the forefront of this struggle, playing an irreplaceable role in co-ordinating the global movement against HIV criminalisation. In a recent meeting, our HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE coalition partners re-affirmed the immense value of our work, emphasising our deep institutional knowledge, comprehensive legal monitoring, and convening power. Our two databases – the Global HIV Criminalisation Database and Positive Destinations – are vital resources for advocates, helping to expose patterns of injustice and build evidence-based arguments for reform.

Moreover, in environments where local organisations face political or legal risks, we serve as a powerful global voice, shining a spotlight on abuses and advocating for change. The network’s ability to bring together diverse stakeholders – activists, lawyers, researchers, and policymakers – ensures that no-one is fighting this battle alone.

Despite the funding crisis, the fight for HIV justice has never been more urgent. Punitive, discriminatory, outdated laws and policies continue to undermine public health efforts, fuel stigma, and violate human rights. The repeal of Zimbabwe’s HIV criminalisation law is a powerful reminder that change is possible, but it does not happen in isolation. It requires sustained, co-ordinated efforts – exactly the kind of work that HJN has championed for years.

The Zimbabwean victory is a beacon of hope, but it also serves as a call to action. We must not allow financial constraints to derail the progress we have fought so hard to achieve. Now, more than ever, we need to stand together to ensure that HIV criminalisation becomes a relic of the past. The future of HIV justice – and, therefore, the HIV response itself – depends on it.

HIV Is Not a Crime Awareness Day:
A Call to Action in a Time of Crisis

Today, on HIV Is Not a Crime Awareness Day, we stand in solidarity with people living with HIV and our allies who not only continue to fight criminalisation, discrimination, and stigma, but also the sudden loss of funding amongst rising political opposition. This year, the urgency of our fight has never been clearer. As the devastating consequences of US policy shifts ripple across the world, we are not just advocating for change – we are fighting for our lives.

Last Wednesday, at the UK Parliament, we brought together key stakeholders to highlight how unjust HIV criminalisation laws, arrests and prosecutions persist in the UK and across the Commonwealth. Similar events are taking place globally, reinforcing that this issue transcends borders.

With Zero Discrimination Day tomorrow spotlighting the power of communities in the HIV response, #WeStandTogether – today and every day – to end the unjust laws and policies that punish people not only for living with HIV, but also because of who they are, who they love, or how they make a living. In a world where stigma still shackles and injustice still reigns, HIV Is Not a Crime Awareness Day is not just necessary – it’s urgent.

The fight for justice also brings hope. On Wednesday, 5 March at 9am EST / 3pm CET / 4pm CAT / 5pm EAT, join us for a special webinar with the International AIDS Society’s Heart of Stigma programme (register here), where we will premiere a powerful new documentary and toolkit on Zimbabwe’s successful decriminalisation of HIV. Zimbabwe’s victory proves that change is possible even in challenging political environments.

This is not just a moment. It’s a movement. The time for action is now.

HJN’s Executive Director’s remarks at the UK Parliamentary event commemorating HIV is Not a Crime Awareness Day

Today, on HIV Is Not A Crime Awareness Day, we are here to confront a grave injustice: HIV criminalisation. HIV criminalisation is not a public health tool, it is a human rights violation. It is state-sponsored stigma in its most extreme form.

We are here because people living with HIV are being jailed – even when there was no possibility of transmission – for not being able to prove they disclosed their status. We are here because women with HIV are being prosecuted for breastfeeding, simply for wanting to nourish their children. We are here because HIV criminalisation is never just about HIV.

People living with HIV are often targeted not only for their status but because of who they are, who they love, or how they survive—whether they are LGBTQ+, sex workers, migrants, or belong to other marginalised communities. HIV criminalisation is a proxy for deeper discrimination—rooted in racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia. The harshest punishments fall on those at the intersection of multiple stigmas. That’s why our fight must be intersectional and collaborative—because justice for people living with HIV is justice for all.

Our Global HIV Criminalisation Database reveals the scale of the problem:

80 countries have HIV-specific criminal laws.
90 countries have unjustly prosecuted people living with HIV, many of them applying general criminal laws.

But there is hope. Seventeen countries have repealed or reformed their HIV laws in the past decade. Change is happening. Yet, our latest analysis – undertaken by our Policy Analyst, Elliot Hatt – shows that the Commonwealth is falling behind global law reform trends. We cannot let this continue.

18 Commonwealth countries have HIV-specific laws, with four country hot-spots – Canada, the UK, India, and Singapore – accounting for nearly 80% of prosecutions across the Commonwealth.

At the HIV Justice Network, we don’t just highlight the problems – we drive solutions. We connect and support activists. We equip communities with tools, available for free in multiple languages through the HIV Justice Academy.

And we share success stories—like Zimbabwe, where we fought to repeal HIV criminalisation in 2022 and prevented its return in 2024. We will be launching our documentary and toolkit analysing how this was possible in a webinar co-hosted with the International AIDS Society next Wednesday, March 5th. (Register here)

So you see, HIV decriminalisation is possible, even in challenging political environments.

But it takes:

Community leadership—because change starts and ends with those most affected.
Parliamentary action—because laws don’t change without political will.
Global coordination—because no-one can fight this battle alone.
Sustained funding—because without resources, progress stalls.

We are deeply grateful to the Robert Carr Fund for supporting us over the past nine years, ensuring that the fight for HIV justice has borne fruit. But let me be clear—this fight is far from over.

With the United States and the Netherlands withdrawing their support, we are especially grateful to the UK government for its unwavering support of the Fund. But we are at a crossroads. The survival of the Fund, and the HIV Justice movement – of the organisations, networks, and communities working tirelessly to end HIV criminalisation – is now at risk.

This is not just a funding gap. This is a threat to progress.

Law reform does not happen overnight. It requires sustained, long-term, and flexible funding to build the momentum needed to dismantle unjust laws and systems that have oppressed people living with HIV for decades.

Without continued investment, we risk losing the gains we’ve fought so hard for. We risk silencing the voices of those on the frontlines. We risk leaving the most vulnerable people behind, afraid to access HIV services and to live fulfilling lives in dignity.

So, thank you for your support. And thank you to those funders in the room who understand that HIV is not a crime, and that real, lasting change takes time.

Advocacy, movement-building, and legal reform are not quick wins—but they are essential. If we want to achieve HIV justice worldwide then we must ensure that this work continues. The future of the HIV response – and the lives of 40 million people – depends on it.

HJN’s Executive Director’s remarks at the UNAIDS Board Meeting on the sustainability of the HIV response

UNAIDS Programme Coordination Board (PCB) Thematic Meeting on the Sustainability of HIV Response

Round Table 1: The context and urgency of sustainability planning and response

Remarks from Edwin J Bernard, Executive Director, HIV Justice Network, Netherlands on community leadership to address human rights barriers

I am a gay man who acquired HIV 41 years ago in 1983. It was a significant year in other ways too:

HIV was first identified as the cause of AIDS
WHO held its first global AIDS meeting
Richard Berkowitz and Michael Callen published ‘how to have sex in an epidemic’ inventing condom-based safer sex
And a small group of people living with AIDS became the first community leaders in the HIV response, creating the Denver Principles, the blueprint for GIPA and MIPA principles now embedded in UNAIDS’ approach to community leadership to address human rights barriers.

Communities involve many different groups, working locally, nationally, regionally and globally. We are communities of women, men and youth living with HIV in all our diversities, as well as communities of gay men and other men who have sex with men, communities of sex workers, communities of transgender people, communities of people who use drugs. We are the key populations

And then there are communities of allies – human rights defenders who understand that public health is human rights and vice versa.

Despite member states committing to removing these human rights barriers in the 2021 Political Declaration – the 10-10-10 targets – we are far from getting anywhere close to achieving these targets because there are still far too many human rights barriers.

These are far too numerous to list, but they include gender inequality and gender-based violence; discrimination when receiving healthcare, in the workplace, in education, and in humanitarian settings; not being able to enter or migrate to a country of which you are not a citizen because of your HIV status; and the growing number of countries with so called ‘foreign agent’ laws that are closing civic space and stifling community leadership.

On top of these, every single member state criminalises one or more of the key populations, fully or partially, and 79 countries have HIV-specific criminal laws that unjustly criminalise HIV non-disclosure, exposure or unintentional transmission.

Ending HIV criminalisation is the focus of my organisation, the HIV Justice Network, and the global HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE coalition that we co-ordinate.

We can do this work thanks primarily to the Robert Carr Fund, which recognises the importance of community-led regional and global networks and our key role in addressing human rights barriers impacting the HIV response.

Dismantling discriminatory systems that have been built over decades and that oppress people living with and affected by HIV takes time and money – and needs community leadership.

So, if sustainability means a move to country-led integrated health systems, this will also mean that all the criminalised and marginalised people I’ve just mentioned will be even more left behind than they currently are.

But there’s a cheap and simple solution: decriminalisation!

A 2022 study from the Alliance for Public Health found that cost savings from decriminalisation of drug use could greatly reduce HIV transmission through increased coverage of opioid agonist therapy and antiretroviral therapy among people who use drugs in eastern Europe and central Asia.

Another 2022 study, from the Williams Institute, on the enforcement of HIV criminalisation laws in Tennessee of so called ‘aggravated prostitution’ – when a sex worker arrested for soliciting is found to be living with HIV – and criminal HIV ‘exposure’ – when a person living with HIV is prosecuted for allegedly not disclosing their HIV status before sex that may or may not risk transmission – estimated that the total cost of incarceration in prison for these unjust HIV-related crimes was $3.8 million.

And a 2021 study found that decriminalising sex work in Washington DC would generate over USD 5000 paid in income taxes by each sex worker – because sex work is work, after all! – plus more than USD20,000 in criminal legal system savings per sex worker a year.

If you decriminalise you not only save money you also ensure that every single person living with, or affected by HIV, gets the HIV services they need.

Following the science and basing laws and policies on public health and not morality or stigma saves money.

So, member states, if you just stop wasting money on ineffective, counterproductive criminalisation and invest in proven treatment and prevention programmes, sustainability of the HIV response is within sight.

To get to 2030, and beyond, to end AIDS as a public health threat, we need to ensure that we don’t forget the dignity and rights of people living with and affected by HIV – easy to cut funding for, and hard to measure – and make sure that we include ending all of forms of HIV-related stigma, discrimination and criminalisation and strive for all forms of equality and empowerment.

In the drafting room on Tuesday, the NGO Delegation added criminalisation to the list that included stigma and discrimination, but the final draft you will vote on later today no longer includes mention of criminalisation as a barrier to testing. I implore you commit to ensure that my recommendation to decriminalise to sustain the HIV response is included in any and all decision points that will come out of this meeting.

Key messages summary

Human rights, gender justice and all the other10-10-10 societal enabler targets are essential, non-negotiable aspects of sustainability.
Community leadership is essential to reach 2030 and to sustain the HIV response beyond that date.
Don’t underestimate – or create more barriers for – communities. We are the experts in understanding what is needed to successfully achieve the end of AIDS.
Support communities by funding us, including replenishing the Robert Carr Fund.
The single most cost-effective intervention for every member state is to decriminalise, decriminalise, decriminalise!

Death penalty for unintentional HIV transmission via same-sex sex struck down by Uganda’s Constitutional Court

The recent (April 3rd) ruling by Uganda’s Constitutional Court declaring that the Anti Homosexuality Act of 2023 complies with the Constitution of Uganda – except in only four aspects – was quite rightly roundly condemned by Amnesty International, the Global Fund, Human Rights Watch, International AIDS Society, and UNAIDS, as well as the US Department of State, amongst many others.

Rather than strike down every section of this heinous, draconian anti-gay law, the Court was unanimous in ruling that most of its dangerous, overly broad, and problematic provisions remain in place.

However, in its 200+ page ruling, the Court did find that Sections 3(2)(c), 9, 11(2d) and 14 did not “pass constitutional muster” and were struck down.

Sections 9 and 11(2d) refer to landlords allowing homosexuality to take place on their premises, and section 14 refers to a “duty to report acts of homosexuality” to the police.

But section 3(2)(c) was one of the most heinous of all of the Act’s horrendous provisions, proscribing the death penalty for someone living with HIV who engaged in same-sex sex and where HIV is allegedly passed on.

Aggravated homosexuality (1) A person who commits the offence of homosexuality in any of the circumstances specified in subsection (2) commits the offence of aggravated homosexuality and is liable, on conviction, to suffer death. (2) (c) the person against whom the offence is committed contracts a terminal illness as a result of the sexual act.

Read the full text of the law here

Both the Court, several petitioners, and UNAIDS – who provided an amicus brief to the Court – correctly interpreted this section as criminalising unintentional HIV transmission when two people of the same sex had sex.

In paragraphs 510-512, the Court referred to several key documents – including the 2011 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and UNAIDS 2013 Guidance Note, Ending overly broad criminalisation of HIV non-disclosure, exposure and transmission: Critical scientific, medical and legal considerations – and were persuaded that the section did not provide for “the element of criminal intent or mens rea, which is a vital component of the concept of crime.”

The Constitutional Court ruling went on to say:

“This indeed is the approach that was adopted in section 43 of the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Act, 2015, which criminalizes the intentional transmission of HIV as follows: ‘a person who wilfully and intentionally transmits HIV to another person commits an offence.’

“Finding no justification for the criminalization of the unintentional transmission of HIV under section 3(2)(c) of the Anti-Homosexuality Act we take the view that it compounds the susceptibility of persons that are HIV+ to mental health issues and thus impedes their right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of mental health, with potential ramifications to their physical health as well. This is a violation of the right to health as envisaged under Article 12(1) of the ICESCR and is inconsistent with Articles 45 and 287 of the Uganda Constitution.”

However, people living with HIV are already over-criminalised in Uganda by various sections of the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Act, as summarised in our Global HIV Criminalisation Database.

What is termed as “wilful and intentional” transmission of HIV is punishable by a fine and/or up to ten years’ imprisonment. Section 43 provides a defence if the accused’s partner was aware of, and accepted, the risk of transmission, or transmission occurred during sexual intercourse and protective measures were used. Attempted transmission is punishable by a fine and/or up to five years’ imprisonment. The scope of section 41 is undefined, but cases demonstrate that the law criminalises perceived HIV ‘exposure’ broadly.

Both Section 41 and 43 are known to have been used in a broad range of circumstances, including prosecution of a man for ‘defilement’ (2013), prosecution of a teacher for alleged transmission to his student (2013), the alleged injection of a toddler/needle stick injury (2014), alleged transmission by a woman to a number of young men (2014), alleged breastfeeding of an employer’s child (2018), the arrest, conviction and acquittal of a nurse wrongfully convicted of injecting a baby with HIV-infected blood (2018), and the alleged defilement of a boy by a woman (2019). An earlier prosecution from 2008 involved a man charged with alleged transmission. In the most recent case in 2023, a woman living with HIV pled guilty to charges under section 43 after injecting her 5-year-old son with her blood and was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. Cases have generally not used scientific evidence to prove allegations, with convictions at lower-level courts relying only on testimony.

Nevertheless, the recognition of key legal and rights-based arguments against punishing unintentional HIV transmission with the death penalty(!) as part of an otherwise anti-rights, morality-based ruling should be seen as a small but welcome victory. Although this might be seen as similar to the 2022 Lesotho High Court decision on the unconstitutionality of the death penalty in the context of HIV transmission following rape, the difference of course is that that rape is an act of violence that should be criminalised regardless of any other circumstances, whereas consensual sex between two men or two women should never, ever be a crime.

An encouraging start to 2024

This year has begun with some really encouraging news: years of HIV criminalisation advocacy are really paying off.

First, we heard that the Congress of Mexico City completely repealed the crime of “danger of contagion” from the Penal Code. The repeal was approved with an overwhelming majority of 42 votes in favour and only two against. As per the decision, Articles 76 and 130 have been modified to eliminate the criminalisation of people with sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV. This is a direct result of community activism led by the Mexican Network Against HIV Criminalisation. Congresswoman Ana Francis López noted that, with the adoption of this decision, Congress is fulfilling the demands of communities living with HIV that asked not to be discriminated against or punished. Mexico City joins the states of Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Nayarit, San Luis Potosí and Tabasco, where their Penal Codes do not provide for a specific crime for exposure to HIV or STIs.

Then we heard that progress is being made towards HIV decriminalisation in Tajikistan. The recent Plenum of the Supreme Court marked the first step in this important process. One of the most significant changes was the recognition of the fact of placing people at risk of HIV was an unproven basis for criminal prosecution. With almost 200 known HIV criminalisation cases, this process now needs to speed up. Marginalised groups bear the brunt of the implementation of the HIV criminalisation law in Tajikistan; starting in 2014, authorities have regularly targeted sex workers and LGBT people, often under the guise of disease prevention. We remain hopeful that further progress will be made in the near future to ensure that people living with HIV are not unjustly criminalised in Tajikistan.

We also heard welcome news that another country with far too many unjust prosecutions, Singapore, is also moving towards law reform. The Singapore Ministry of Health is currently conducting a review of the law concerning HIV disclosure. This review will hopefully result in changes to current draconian practices and policies that has seen the law used to convict people – usually gay men – where condoms had been used and where the person living with HIV had an undetectable viral load.

And finally, with the support of our HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE Francophone Network, led by the HIV Legal Network, civil society groups are urging authorities in Burkina Faso to reconsider the HIV criminalisation provisions contained within its HIV law, Law 030. The call for action reflects a broader effort to improve the health and wellbeing of people living with HIV/AIDS in Burkina Faso and across the continent.

These are but a few examples of the hard work and dedication of so many of us. The global movement to end HIV criminalisation is making significant progress. Let’s keep up the momentum.

Together, we can make HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE a reality.

2023 in review: A delicate balance

A DELICATE BALANCE

Working to end punitive laws and policies that impact people living with HIV is never easy, but this year has been especially hard, as we fought to maintain that delicate balance between moving forward in our advocacy and preventing the erosion of our previous gains fuelled by the anti-rights movement and the growth of right-wing populism.

For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we saw an increase in the number of reported HIV-related prosecutions: 86 cases in 18 countries. This compares with 49 cases in 16 countries last year and 54 cases in 20 countries in 2021. This year, as in previous years, the highest number of case reports come from the EECA region (Uzbekistan and Russia), followed by the United States (10 cases – a significant decrease) and the United Kingdom (5 cases – a worrying increase).

It is possible that we were seeing more case reports because there were actually more cases, but we must always consider these reported cases to be illustrative of what is likely to be a far more widespread, poorly documented use of criminal law against people living with HIV.

Although many people arrested or prosecuted were heterosexual men, we also saw a range of intersectional identities impacted by HIV criminalisation – particularly sex workers who may also have been transgender and/or people of colour and/or with a migration background. It is clear that a convergence of multiple levels of criminalisation, discrimination and other vulnerabilities leads to over-policing of the bodies and behaviours of people living with HIV.

LATIN AMERICA

Some of the most exciting and promising developments in 2023 came from Latin America. In June, Belize repealed its HIV-specific criminal law, enacted in 2001 but never applied, primarily to enable the country to be certified as having eliminated vertical transmission. And in August, Costa Rica’s People Living with HIV organisation pushed back against a parliamentarian’s proposal to reinstate an HIV criminalisation law.

It’s also clear that sustained advocacy by civil society in Mexico – which began in earnest when the HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE coalition supported the creation of the Mexican network in 2017 – is really making a difference. In March, the state of Nayarit repealed its infectious disease law that had mostly applied to people with HIV. The district of Mexico City is on its way to repeal a similar law. And another Mexican state, Baja California Sur, modernised the wording of the same law to attempt to destigmatise it, by removing the concept that communicable diseases are only prosecutable if sexually transmitted.

In November, a proposal for a new HIV criminalisation law in the state of Puebla was withdrawn following criticisms from HIV and human rights organisations, and a month later there are now proposals to reform the existing law. And civil society pressure to remove the federal HIV criminalisation law on constitutional grounds may have led to Mexico’s first trans congresswomen advocating for the repeal of the law in parliament. Given Mexico’s rights-based approach to SRHR – the country decriminalised abortion earlier this year – at least one of these repeal pathways are likely to succeed next year.

NORTH AMERICA

In the United States, we continued to see a marked reduction in the number of cases as the movement to repeal or modernise HIV criminalisation laws continued to grow due to ongoing, sustained advocacy by networks of people living with HIV with support from philanthropic funders as well as federal and state political leaders and public health institutions. Although, no states fully repealed their HIV-specific laws in 2023, and law reform proposals in Indiana, Minnesota, and North Dakota failed to pass, there were some important victories in Tennessee. Here, both law reform and strategic litigation bore fruit, the former by removing mandatory sex offender registration for those convicted under the HIV law, and the latter resulting in a ruling that Tennessee’s ‘aggravated prostitution’ statute violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Canada – another former global HIV criminalisation leader – continued to report fewer cases, with just one new reported case in 2023. As in the United States, this is the result of many years of sustained advocacy, although the federal government has still not responded formally to its 2022 public consultation on substantially reforming its approach to HIV criminalisation. The Canadian Coalition to Reform HIV Criminalization, led by HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE coalition partner, the HIV Legal Network, issued a strong statement on World AIDS Day calling for action.

AFRICA

Unlike previous years, the only country on the African continent with reported new HIV criminalisation cases in 2023 was Kenya, where lawmakers are still planning to follow Uganda in enacting even more criminalisation aimed at LGBTI people – as are Botswana, Ghana, and Niger. Following the December 2022 dismissal of the constitutional challenge to Kenya’s HIV-specific provisions in the Sexual Offences Act, there are plans to appeal and to continue to lobby for change.

Strategic litigation led by KELIN was ultimately successful in establishing that women living with HIV possess the inherent right to make informed choices regarding their reproductive decisions following a nine-year process, so sustained advocacy – and patience – may be required. Patience may also be needed in South Africa where long-awaited sex work decriminalisation was further postponed, although parliament did agree to clear COVID lockdown criminal records. Elsewhere, another positive development in the region was the repeal of Mauritius’ colonial-era sodomy law which means that the number of nations with laws against gay sex has now fallen to 66.

EASTERN EUROPE / CENTRAL ASIA

People living with HIV in the EECA region continue to face multiple challenges. In just the first six months of 2023, there were 20 cases of alleged “intentional HIV transmission” to sexual partners in Uzbekistan’s Tashkent region – the highest HIV criminalisation case count anywhere in the world. The majority of those prosecuted appeared to be women. This comes as no surprise given that an analysis of cases and laws across the ECCA region by our HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE partners, the Eurasian Women’s Network on AIDS (EWNA), found that women living with HIV bear the brunt of the “legalised stigma” of HIV criminalisation in the region.

One of the main reasons for the high number of cases in the EECA region is the integration of HIV criminalisation within healthcare policies: newly diagnosed individuals are made to sign a paper acknowledging their legal liability for HIV prevention often without receiving adequate or meaningful counselling or support. In Russia – where the second highest number of cases were reported – a study found that most HIV clinicians support HIV criminalisation, and in Kazakhstan it was revealed that 1-in-1000 people newly diagnosed with HIV in 2022 filed a police report blaming someone else for their infection.

The legal environment for people living with HIV in Russia continues to worsen, as it does for all its citizens, especially LGBTI people – with trans women sex worker migrants facing the brunt of the Russia’s anti-LGBT “propaganda” law. And in Tajikistan, homophobic and HIV-phobic law enforcement practices resulted in ten gay men being arrested Dushanbe on suspicion of “infecting 86 people with HIV.” The only positive news for the region came from Ukraine, where a new protective HIV law was adopted earlier this year, although criminal liability for HIV exposure or transmission remains a possibility.

WESTERN EUROPE

December saw two contrasting developments in Western Europe. Just as Ireland’s Supreme Court overturned the country’s first-ever sexual HIV criminalisation case – partially based on now well-established limitations of scientific evidence being able to prove who infected whom – a lower court in Latvia convicted someone of alleged HIV transmission for the first time.

And although in the United Kingdom, a long-awaited update to the Crown Prosecution Service’s guidance now unequivocally states that an undetectable viral load stops HIV transmission, five HIV criminalisation cases still took place, along with a highly publicised civil case. Per capita, this meant that in 2023 the UK had a five-fold incidence of reported HIV criminalisation cases compared to the United States!

ASIA PACIFIC

Singapore continues to lead the Asia Pacific region with four reported HIV criminalisation cases in 2023: one for blood donation, two for biting, and one involving a transgender sex worker for alleged HIV exposure. Although South Korea’s constitutional court ended up declaring most of its HIV criminalisation provisions constitutional, their recognition that U=U suggests the law may evolve to recognise up-to-date science.

Although ending HIV criminalisation cannot rely on science alone, it can help limit unjust prosecutions while we work to end the HIV-related stigma, discrimination and structural inequalities that drive criminalisation.

BRINGING SCIENCE TO JUSTICE

This year, we celebrated five years since the publication of the ‘Expert Consensus Statement on the Science of HIV in the Context of Criminal Law’ with our ‘Five-Year Impact Report’ and an HIV Justice Live! webshow focused on bringing science to justice. Both proved that the Expert Consensus Statement remains relevant, accurate and extremely useful.

Given this delicate balance between moving forward and preventing the erosion of hard-won rights there is still so much more to do to reach the global target of fewer than 10% of countries with punitive laws and policies that negatively impact the HIV response.

LET COMMUNITIES LEAD

To ensure that communities continue to lead, and to further enable the building of an intersectional movement to end punitive laws and policies that impact people living with HIV in all diversity, we made our online platform for e-learning and training, the HIV Justice Academy, more widely available in Spanish and Russian, to complement our English and French versions.

In 2023, the HIV Justice Academy was visited by several thousand learners from 110 countries. We were thrilled to learn that graduates of our flagship HIV Criminalisation Online Course told us that they really benefitted from the course, finding it relevant, interesting, and engaging.

RENEWED FOCUS FOR 2024

We will begin 2024 with a renewed focus to achieving HIV justice as we continue to:

build the evidence base by gathering relevant data and information from around the world.
raise awareness across multiple platforms and communities of the harms of HIV criminalisation.
create, collate, and disseminate advocacy tools and resources to foster more effective responses to damaging laws, policies, and media narratives; and
bring individuals and national, regional, and global networks and organisations together, as part of the HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE coalition, to catalyse change.

HJN’s Executive Director remarks
to the UNAIDS Board (PCB)

These remarks were made during the thematic session on reducing health inequities through tailored and systemic responses in priority and key populations especially transgender people, and the path to 2025 targets.

The HIV Justice Network is a community-based NGO leading a co-ordinated global response to HIV criminalisation. We’ve have heard so far about many different structural inequalities but not so much about HIV criminalisation, also covered in the background note, which disproportionately affects key populations, including transgender people, who are already criminalised or otherwise targeted by discriminatory legal systems and policies.

In fact, over 90 countries have criminal laws – based on stigma, not science – that single out people living with HIV based on our HIV-positive status. Another 40 or so countries have applied general criminal laws to unjustly prosecute and imprison people with HIV for acts that cause no risk, no harm or for which there is scant proof of either.

HIV criminalisation selectively scapegoats people living with HIV for a collective failure in HIV prevention policy including the responsibility of governments to create supportive and enabling legal environments for HIV prevention in the first place.

I last attended the PCB 12 years ago as a journalist highlighting the injustices of HIV criminalisation, which at the time was mostly overlooked as a significant legal barrier to the HIV response.

I return to the PCB as the HIV Justice Network’s Executive Director, financially supported by the Robert Carr Fund for civil society networks. Thank you to the governments that support the Fund, and for recognising that community-led global and regional networks of PLHIV and KPs are necessary and irreplaceable partners.

In the intervening years some progress has been made but far too many unjust laws continue to impact far too many people living with HIV, including trans people, gay men and other men who have sex with men, people who use drugs, sex workers and women and girls.

Today, I call on all member states that still have punitive and harmful laws that single out people living with HIV (and that’s almost all of you) to fulfil the commitments most of you made in the 2021 Political Declaration.

It would make our work so much easier if you returned from Geneva to persuade your own governments to do the right thing: either fully fund the Unified Budget, Results and Accountability Framework (UBRAF) or – the cheaper option – get rid of your own ineffective, counterproductive, punitive, discriminatory laws once and for all so we can finally achieve HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE!

Transgender Day of Visibility 2023

Honouring the courage of transgender people globally, especially transgender people living with HIV

Today is International Transgender Day of Visibility, held annually on 31st March to celebrate transgender people globally and honour their courage and visibility to live openly and authentically.

This year’s 14th annual celebration is a day to also raise awareness around the stigma, discrimination and criminalisation that transgender people face.

According to the Human Dignity Trust, 14 countries currently criminalise the gender identity and/or expression of transgender people, using so-called ‘cross-dressing’, ‘impersonation’ and ‘disguise’ laws. In many more countries transgender people are targeted by a range of laws that criminalise same-sex activity and vagrancy, hooliganism and public order offences.

Transgender people living with HIV can be further criminalised based on their HIV-positive status, although we know that there are still too many invisibilities around the impact of HIV criminalisation on transgender people.

Cecilia Chung, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives and Evaluation of the Transgender Law Center, who is also a member of our Global Advisory Panel told our 2020 Beyond Blame webinar that there are not enough data on the impact of HIV criminalisation laws on transgender people. She said such data are not “uniformly collected across the world… The numbers still remain invisible even though we know for sure there are [HIV criminalisation] cases.”

HJN honours the courage of transgender people – especially transgender people living with HIV – to live openly and authentically. We also call for more visibility for transgender people in data collection, as well as reforms of all criminal laws and their enforcement that disproportionately target transgender people.